After three Premiership matches took place on January 1st, the rest of the fixtures were played on the 2nd and 3rd of January. As the transfer window has opened, many Nigerian players and those of Nigerian descent were looking to perform well.
All the matches were played in the evening and one of the first kick-offs was the Bournemouth vs Watford match at the Vitality Stadium. It turned out to be a quite interesting match. The Hornets were the first to score in the 14th minute through Troy Deeney, the captain. He got himself another and the second for Watford in the 27th minute. But then the Cherries countered and scored two quick goals to level the game. Nathan Aké got the first goal in the 34th minute and Callum Wilson scored the equalizer in the 37th minute.
And just when you thought that was enough excitement for one half, a minute later Watford went 3:2 up courtesy of a Ken Sema goal. And the half didn’t finish there. Two minutes after Watford went a goal up, Bournemouth equalized again when Ryan Fraser scored.
Both teams tried to change tactics bringing in substitutions but the score from the first half stayed until the final whistle. Jordon Ibe came in from the bench for Bournemouth in the 81st minute while Isaac Success Ajayi also made a short appearance for Watford, coming in for the last couple of minutes of the game.
Isaac Success Ajayi (www.watfordfc.com)
Burnley travelled to Huddersfield confident they could go away with at least a point as Huddersfield are in without a point for months. It was the Terriers who threatened first through Philip Billing, but he couldn’t find the net. But they kept on attacking and went a goal up in the 33rd minute through Steve Mounie. But the lead didn’t last long. Chris Wood scored for Burnley to level the game. A minute later Christopher Schindler was sent off for Huddersfield for two yellow cards.
A ten-man Huddersfield couldn’t hold on for the whole second half and fell to a second goal in the 74th minute scored by Ashley Barnes. The final score was 2:1 to the visitors, but not before they also went down to ten men when Robbie Brady was sent off in the 90th minute.
Leon Balogun was once again on the bench for Brighton as they travelled to the Capital to face West Ham at the London Stadium. There were no goals in the first half.
Brighton broke the deadlock in the 56th minute. Dale Stephens scored the goal, and two minutes later Shane Duffy scored himself to give the Seagulls a 2:0 lead. But Marko Arnautovic would have none of it as he managed to score two quick goals in the 66th and 68th minute to earn a point for the Hammers.